Retrospection
by Shuichi Saito
Summary: At 26, Cooro wishes he had it all. But instead he's a single father bringing up his young daughter. Plagued by the memories of his beautiful wife and overcome with depression he decides to relocate to not just another city, but another country. However, despite his efforts to escape the past he bumps into a person who he least expected to. Cooro/Nana and Cooro/Husky. Death Fic.


Nana had grown up to be a beautiful woman, her hair had grown longer and her eyes had grown wiser. And even when she was at the height of pregnancy, her eyes dark from the lack of sleep and blonde hair pulled back tightly into a bun – he still thought that she was the most beautiful woman he'd ever had the pleasure to meet. And yet on that one day everything he'd loved had been ripped away from him; and despite the fact that his chest bubbled with joy upon holding his tiny daughter with milky skin and startling green eyes there was a certain emptiness at the fact that Nana -his beautiful, talented Nana- wasn't there to see her first new born.

And it was four years later when he was a man of 26, his four year old daughter giggling as she wobbled around the kitchen, that everything came crashing back down around him. He was a widow. He was a widow with a toddler who was starting to ask innocent questions about her mother's whereabouts that would only make his heart clench tightly in pain. And with every passing day little Alana was looking more and more like her mother and it was growing more and more often that he'd just collapse on the bed after a hard day's work and sob against the pillow. The house he lived in was modest yet homely, Nana's sewing box still sat in the corner of the bedroom – untouched. Yet the memories were almost suffocating and the house was slowly going into disrepair; the door hinges were rusting and the ceiling was leaking in the spare room. He needed space. He needed room to move on and get out of this pit of despair and self-loathing that he'd fallen into. But most of all, he needed to get himself together and make sure that Alana grew up with the best education that she could possibly have. 4 months and 16 days later the house was sold and he had moved them both into a pretty little, white coloured house in a lively town called Birchwood in Sailand. A completely different town in a completely different country.

And now, as he walked down the street clasping the small hand of his daughter, Cooro decided that he couldn't be any happier. Instead of feeling a sharp sense of pain as he thought about Nana, he'd now remember her kindness and the way she always lit up a room with her sparkling eyes and exuberant personality.

"I want cake" Alana announced, her face all smiles as she stared up at her father "Strawberry cake with vanilla sponge and lots of yummy icing. Can we have cake?" Cooro laughed and ruffled her already fluffy hair "Okay then, but I think the baker said that this week he was making apple pie. Do you want some apple pie instead" Upon getting an energetic nod from Alana he pushed the door to the bakery open; the bell above him tinkled loudly at their entrance and the waft of baking bread not only made his mouth water, but his stomach rumble. He noticed that they'd changed the displays around, and he also noticed that the baker wasn't behind the till; he would have thought that maybe he was out at the back checking on the ovens by he **always** greeted customers personally.

"Where's that nice baker man?" Alana said as she reached up to pull two apple pies from a shelf. "I don't know" Cooro stated apprehensively in return as he took the pies from his daughters arms and put them on the till He grabbed his old leather wallet from his pocket as Alana pressed the bell on the desk.

The person that came from the back wasn't the baker. And Cooro was immediately balancing in a state between shock and bewilderment. The young man before him, wearing flour coated apron and a gingham bandana too keep hair from his face, was none other than his fishy friend from the circus. The boy who had an extreme hatred of girls. The boy whose sour personality and snarky remarks always made their tedious hikes much more bearable. The boy who comforted Cooro when he woke up one day only to find the familiar black markings on his shoulders were.

"Cooro?..." He almost laughed when he realised that his voice was just was deep and husky as he remembered. Alana, meanwhile, stared up at the young man with a look of slight hesitation. "Husky" Cooro acknowledged "I don't remember you ever had an interest in baking. When did you take over the shop?" The other man winced at the word 'Husky', and Cooro had to admit that the years certainly hadn't been harsh to him.  
He was still pale –almost deathly so- with exotic blue eyes and fair features. His silver-blue hair was scraped back into a ponytail and his jawline had hardened slightly; but despite that he still retained the feminine edge that had been the centre of their jokes back when they were travelling from town to town.

"I…ah, don't go by Husky anymore, it's Myrrha. And I don't own the shop; I'm just looking after it for an neighbour who's twisted his ankle. I also sometimes pop in to help if it's busy" His voice softened slightly "I heard about Nana from Senri…I'm really sorry about what happened Cooro, are you doing okay?" Cooro was surprised to see that his eyes were twinkling with sadness. He really had changed, not just in his appearance, but his personality "I mean, she was an annoying girl but she was okay, I guess" He continued and Cooro couldn't help but chuckle fondly at the memories "I'm doing okay. It's hard, really hard. But I've got little Alana here to keep me sane. I'm more shocked to see you here!"

Husky –No, Myrrha- smiled sadly "You've changed" He acknowledged, placing the apple pies in a brown paper bag "I mean, you seem sort of…sad? No, tired" Alana, Cooro noticed, had wandered off to the other end of the shop and was eyeing the sweets with hopeful eyes. Cooro sighed and shrugged "I guess you could say that, it's not easy looking after Alana. There's the money issue too – I can't seem to find a decent job and…well, that's enough about me. What's about you? How have you been? What have you been up to? Any girlfriends?"

"Hold on, I can only answer one question at once" Myrrha laughed "Well, shortly after we went our different ways I came back to Sailand and worked on a local fishing boat; but the pay wasn't that good so I now do a few odd jobs here and there. I'm still in contact with Senri and I sometimes drop in and see him and Rose when I'm in their area; nothing exiting really. I had a few relationships, nothing really serious though and they never last more than a month or so…" Myrrha trailed off awkwardly, to fill the silence they busied themselves in the exchange of items and money. Cooro couldn't help but flush slightly as their fingers brushed and he was suddenly abruptly aware that his childhood friend had grown up into not only a pleasant young man, but quite an attractive one at that – he couldn't help himself feeling slightly guilty, it felt like he was cheating on Nana in a strange sort of way.

"Cooro" Myrrha stated suddenly "I heard from Senri that Nana was pregnant…is that young girl…"

"Yeah" Cooro interrupted "Erm…Alana, she's going to be four this year. Nana passed giving birth to her" His pain must have shown on his face for Myrrha suddenly looked very apologetic. "Sorry" Myrrha mumbled "I seem to only make you seem even more depressed" He chuckled humourlessly and nervously scratched the side of his face, which only succeeded in smearing flour down his right cheek.

"Daddy!" Alana shouted from the doorway "Can we go now? I'm bored of all the grown-up talk"

"In a minute Sweetie" Cooro replied swiftly; after chewing his bottom lip for a moment he turned back to Myrrha, who he had to admit did look quite cute in an apron "Hey, you're closing in a minute aren't you? If so, do you want to drop by and have some apple pie with me and my little tear-away? Talk about old times?" He smiled softly. Myrrha chuckled and shook his head in disbelief "You make us sound like we're elderly. But yes, I'd love to…that sounds lovely."


End file.
